Tonight Andrew (Hope and Crank) and myself went to the South West Stationary Engine Club(S.W.S.E.C) A.G.M

The A.g.m started of with figures,attendancees etc then it was the chairmans speech and he was saying his usual speech thanking people and then he said that the last rally at Perrenwell only had few Members attended including myself, Andrew, John, Ryan and Ian and few other members out of 75 members THIS IS BAD

Then he told us no one wanted be on the commitee and as from tonight the club is NO MORE!!!

Reason is most of the commitee are pensioners also H+S Regulations were a pain too

Sorry to hear that Adam but i'm afraid that this is a common problem with club's of any description, be they engine club, village fete, caravan club's, you name it and they will ALL have a similar problem. They obviously rely on volunteers and it is a fact that fewer folk are coming forward nowadays to take these jobs on. This year is the first since I have been married (34 years) that I haven't been on at least one committee, either as a general member or Vice Chairman and Chairman, and in ALL CASES the problem has been "apathy" ie as long as someone else does the job then that is fine! There comes a time when committee members have had enough, our vintage club's secretary will have done 25 years in the job come next AGM, he has been intending to give the job up for a while now but nobody will take it on. When he retires then someone will HAVE to do it or the club will finish, as yours has done. The answer is in our hands, we either do our bit or face the inevitable. Perhaps Andrew and yourself could have offered your services, though it was probably too late by then, the damage was done.Regarding the poor turnout at the rally, that happens up here as well. We had a light up last weekend, the members had requested it and what happens, 4 turnup! What seemed a good idea in summer when it was planned suddenly loses it's appeal when the cold and damp weather arrives, only ourselves to blame of course but that's the problem with Humans, you can't rely on 'em!!

Hi Adam, Thanks to you and Andrew for coming tonight. A sad night as it has been a big part of my life for the last 9 years.with only 9 out of 75 members and no nominations for the committee,as the present committeewished to stand down. The SWSEC managed to put on 1 crank up in january and a rally in september for 10 years+, but in the last 3 years there has only been 5 of us on the committee to do it all. i have been on the committee for 6 years and enjoyed it very much. cheers steve

75 members, surly they dont need all those titles, surely a couple of commited people will do, its like whats the differance between a president and a chairman anyway , im so up for helping out, surely out of 75 members, there must be a couple of people free, it just makes no sense at all

Maybe Steve66 can tell us more about it as he or was a committee member!

Im itching for a rally in January

I think out of 75 members its pethectic no one can help i would help but have no clue what to do

Also there was no feedback from most members

I was also speaking to Kerwin he wasnt really suprised there is not enough pushing to these events anymore aparently when Kerwin was incharge with KOVC stationary engine commity he got 210 enginens in the 80s but the last rally only had 75 or so he sent letters off all around the country apperently

Well our club has probably around the same amount of members and has survived for 30 years with A ChairmanSecretaryTreasurerEvents organiserRoad run steward.

And that's it! The Secretary and anyone handy does the fencing at events, the secretary also covers safety issues. Simples!!What I will add though is that our rallies are free to the public, that way you don't have to bother with medical facilities or even loos (though they are on site permanantly).

Sorry to say but this is going to be the norm on clubs shuting down, you will get everybody saying yes we can do that.Until you go to organise the rally and you end up with the sane members helping. Been the got the T shirt.You will need a bit of cash in the bank to start with you have to pay for insurances toilets fencing I can carry on but thats the picture.I wish you all the luck in the world.There are more private rallys about now than there ever wasChris

the club have alot of money. it just would have been nice to no why, they shut considering a number of us have supported the club by showing at rallys, adam mentioned to me the club said this year was the best for turn outs, it just makes no sense, ah well will have to sort are selfs out

I've been involved with running clubs also running a rally. You don't need all them people you've listed Adam, the club I've just joined hold 3 rallies a year and have a reasonable amount in the bank, but monies raised at the monthly meeting (raffle, bingo etc) goes to club/rally funds. There is 8 senior posts and the same guy does 3 of them and his wife covers another, same as the committee which has 4 members and some being husband and wife teams. Thing is the members are told they are involved even if it's just an hour at a rally on the gate to allow others to look around, if members are bothered even if they work or not they can always help out by giving out posters or running around even if they can't do the event, so there's no excuse in saying I don't have the time, if you want a club to servive you can always find some time to help out

StuIf you want to check out the club I'm a member of check the link then committee. Check Alan Harley's name.http://www.dcvcs.org.uk/index.html

Last edited by stationary stu on Sun Nov 29 2009, 22:33; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Adding)